PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Red meat consumption associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk

Replacing red meat with plant-based protein sources may reduce risk of diabetes and provide environmental benefits

2023-10-19
(Press-News.org) Key takeaways:

Eating more than one weekly serving of red meat may raise type 2 diabetes risk. Replacing red meat with plant-based protein sources, such as nuts and legumes, may reduce risk of type 2 diabetes. Embargoed for release: Thursday, October 19, 4:00 AM ET

Boston, MA — People who eat just two servings of red meat per week may have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to people who eat fewer servings, and the risk increases with greater consumption, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. They also found that replacing red meat with healthy plant-based protein sources, such as nuts and legumes, or modest amounts of dairy foods, was associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.

The study will be published on Thursday, October 19, in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“Our findings strongly support dietary guidelines that recommend limiting the consumption of red meat, and this applies to both processed and unprocessed red meat,” said first author Xiao Gu, postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Nutrition.

While previous studies have found a link between red meat consumption and type 2 diabetes risk, this study, which analyzed a large number of type 2 diabetes cases among participants being followed for an extended period of years, adds a greater level of certainty about the association.

Type 2 diabetes rates are increasing rapidly in the U.S. and worldwide. This is concerning not only because the disease is a serious burden, but it also is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and kidney disease, cancer, and dementia.

For this study, the researchers analyzed health data from 216,695 participants from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), NHS II, and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS). Diet was assessed with food frequency questionnaires every two to four years, for up to 36 years. During this time, more than 22,000 participants developed type 2 diabetes.

The researchers found that consumption of red meat, including processed and unprocessed red meat, was strongly associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Participants who ate the most red meat had a 62% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who ate the least. Every additional daily serving of processed red meat was associated with a 46% greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and every additional daily serving of unprocessed red meat was associated with a 24% greater risk.

The researchers also estimated the potential effects of substituting one daily serving of red meat for another protein source. They found that substituting a serving of nuts and legumes was associated with a 30% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, and substituting a serving of dairy products was associated with a 22% lower risk.

“Given our findings and previous work by others, a limit of about one serving per week of red meat would be reasonable for people wishing to optimize their health and wellbeing,” said senior author Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition.

In addition to health benefits, swapping red meat for healthy plant protein sources would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, and provide other environmental benefits, according to the researchers.

Other Harvard Chan School authors included Frank Sacks and Frank Hu.

The NHS, NHS II, and HPFS are supported by the National Institute of Health (grants UM1 CA186107, U01 CA176726, and U01 CA167552).

“Red meat intake and risk of type 2 diabetes in a prospective cohort study of US females and males,” Xiao Gu, Jean-Philippe Drouin-Chartier, Frank M. Sacks, Frank B. Hu, Bernard Rosner, Walter C. Willett, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 19, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.08.021

Visit the Harvard Chan School website for the latest news, press releases, and multimedia offerings.

###

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health brings together dedicated experts from many disciplines to educate new generations of global health leaders and produce powerful ideas that improve the lives and health of people everywhere. As a community of leading scientists, educators, and students, we work together to take innovative ideas from the laboratory to people’s lives—not only making scientific breakthroughs, but also working to change individual behaviors, public policies, and health care practices. Each year, more than 400 faculty members at Harvard Chan School teach 1,000-plus full-time students from around the world and train thousands more through online and executive education courses. Founded in 1913 as the Harvard-MIT School of Health Officers, the School is recognized as America’s oldest professional training program in public health.

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Grouping English learners in classrooms yields no benefit in reading development, new study finds

2023-10-19
Grouping English learners together in classrooms, a longstanding practice in schools, has no impact—positive or negative—on reading development for elementary school students, shows a new study by a team of literacy education researchers. “When I taught middle school 20 years ago, I noticed that my English learner students were separated from their native English-speaking peers all day long,” says NYU Steinhardt associate professor Michael Kieffer, the study’s lead author. “Data show that this practice continues in many places today, ...

The addition of a dedicated nursing team to assist with catheter insertions can help reduce bloodstream infections in hospitals

2023-10-19
Arlington, Va. — October 19, 2023 — A new report published today in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) demonstrates that implementing a dedicated team of nurses to assist with central line insertions can reduce patients’ risk of developing bloodstream infections due to those central lines. In this report, infection preventionists at UNC Health found that having this dedicated team reduced the proportion of central line-associated bloodstream infections occurring within ...

Scientists discover deepest known evidence of coral reef bleaching

Scientists discover deepest known evidence of coral reef bleaching
2023-10-19
Scientists have discovered the deepest known evidence of coral reef bleaching, more than 90 metres below the surface of the Indian Ocean. The damage – attributed to a 30% rise in sea temperatures caused by the Indian Ocean dipole – harmed up to 80% of the reefs in certain parts of the seabed, at depths previously thought to be resilient to ocean warming. However, scientists say it serves as a stark warning of the harm caused in our ocean by rising ocean temperatures, and also of the hidden damage being caused throughout the natural world as a result of climate change. The findings, highlighted in a study published ...

Holy bat skull! Fossil adds vital piece to bat evolution puzzle

2023-10-19
Of all the mammals, bats have one of the poorest fossil records, with palaeontologists estimating that about 80 per cent of it is missing. This has made it difficult to pinpoint exactly when they first began to fly, or began roosting in caves, or developed their unique way of ‘seeing’ their surroundings in the dark using sound – called echolocation. But a near-perfectly preserved bat’s skull discovered by French palaeontologists in a cave that dates back about 50 million years has shed new light on what we thought we knew about this ancient, ...

Rebates can offer solutions to California’s groundwater woes

Rebates can offer solutions to California’s groundwater woes
2023-10-19
Many aquifers in California and around the world are being drained of their groundwater because of the combined impacts of excess pumping, shifts in land use, and climate change. However, a new study by scientists at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley, published on Oct. 18 in Nature Water, may offer a solution. It describes the development and operation of a novel incentive program that uses water rebates to pay for some of the costs of getting stormwater runoff into the ground. The program is called recharge net metering (ReNeM). Although ...

Study finds men's antidepressant use did not negatively impact IVF success

2023-10-19
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a time-intensive and often stress-inducing fertility procedure. Yet how does that stress impact its success? Investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, assessed the effects of anxiety and depression in men on fertility and IVF outcomes. Their findings reveal no correlation between anxiety, regardless of antidepressant use, on IVF outcomes or live birth rate. Results are published in Human Reproduction. “Our findings indicate that despite past concerns over antidepressant medication’s ...

Regular health checkups may prevent the development of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD)

Regular health checkups may prevent the development of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD)
2023-10-19
Niigata, Japan - A new Japanese ecological study revealed that prefecture-specific participation rates for Specific Health Checkups (SHC participation rates) had significant negative effects on prefecture-specific standardized incidence rates (SIRs) of treated ESKD and prefecture-specific prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The findings support the importance of increasing SHC participation rates at the population level and encouraging people to undergo regular health checkups. "Japan has one of the highest incidence and ...

Eyes may be the window to your soul, but the tongue mirrors your health

2023-10-19
A 2000-year-old practice by Chinese herbalists – examining the human tongue for signs of disease – is now being embraced by computer scientists using machine learning and artificial intelligence. Tongue diagnostic systems are fast gaining traction due to an increase in remote health monitoring worldwide, and a study by Iraqi and Australian researchers provides more evidence of the increasing accuracy of this technology to detect disease. Engineers from Middle Technical University (MTU) in Baghdad and the University of South Australia (UniSA) used a USB web camera and computer to capture tongue ...

CHIPS and Science Act spurs NanoFab cleanroom ribbon cutting at NYU Tandon School of Engineering

2023-10-19
NYU leadership - including recently inaugurated President Linda Mills and NYU Tandon School of Engineering Dean Jelena Kovačević - joined University faculty and partners on October 18th to cut the ribbon at the newly-minted NYU Nanofabrication (NanoFab) Cleanroom, a specialized research environment in which scientists and engineers can fabricate cutting-edge semiconductor chips to advance research on quantum science and engineering, precision medicine, neurotechnologies, next-generation communications technology and secure computing.  Located on NYU Tandon’s ...

New study sheds light on long term effectiveness and safety of two widely used statins

2023-10-19
Two widely used statins, rosuvastatin and atorvastatin, are equally effective at preventing heart attacks, strokes and death in people with coronary artery disease. But while rosuvastatin treatment is associated with lower cholesterol levels, it also carries a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than atorvastatin, finds a study published by The BMJ today.  Lowering “bad” (LDL) cholesterol levels with statins is recommended for people with coronary artery disease - a condition where the blood vessels supplying the heart are ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Korea University and Yonsei University's Colleges of Medicine promote a joint research project to train new Korean physician-scientists

Researchers discover way to predict treatment success for parasitic skin disease

Journal of Health Communication publishes inaugural Society for Health Communication special issue

‘Ugh, not that song!’ Background music impacts employees

New study finds that 90 percent of U.S. Christian leaders believe climate change is real

Study finds global downturn in bias against stigmatized groups

Cross-ideological acceptance of illiberal narratives and pro-China propaganda in Japan

AI tool can track effectiveness of multiple sclerosis treatments

The new season of The Last of Us has a spore-ting chance at realism

Alternative approach to Lyme disease vaccine development shows promise in pre-clinical models

Equitable access to digital technologies may help improve cardiovascular health

Is AI in medicine playing fair?

Socioeconomic inequalities drive significant gaps in access to mental health care across the European union

Does teamwork fulfill the goal of project-based learning?

Scientists link a phytoplankton bloom to starving dolphins in Florida

Local access to abortion services expanded with mifepristone in community pharmacies

KIMM lays groundwork for global expansion of “K-Machine” through strengthened international partnerships in Europe

Dietary shift after migration increases cardiovascular risk by altering the composition of an individual's gut microbiome

Viability of hospital-based emergency care in US faces peril

Exposure to air pollution may harm brain health of older adults

New study investigates effects of ADHD medications on the heart

Research to tackle Prymnesium algal blooms which affect fish populations

Climate and health litigation mounting in Australia as exposure to heatwaves grows

Young females more likely to experience higher social anxiety due to excessive smartphone use than other genders

New research boosts future whooping cough vaccines

Mechanistic understanding could enable better fast-charging batteries

No bones about it: new details about skeletal cell aging revealed

UNM scientists discover how nanoparticles of toxic metal used in MRI scans infiltrate human tissue

UMaine research examines best methods for growing Atlantic sea scallops

Medical cannabis could speed recovery, especially at community recovery homes

[Press-News.org] Red meat consumption associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk
Replacing red meat with plant-based protein sources may reduce risk of diabetes and provide environmental benefits